Baby bottle brush with tipped ends



June 24, 1969 T. MARKS BABY BOTTLE BRUSH WITH TIPPED ENDS Filed July 26,1967 IN VE N TOR. 77/500025 MAE/(5 I Z Z .T

area/5m United States Patent US. Cl. 300-21 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A method for making a twisted wire baby bottle type brush.Bristles are applied between two separate wires and the wires aretwisted. Pressure may be applied to the end of the brush to provide abrush tip.

This invention relates to a baby bottle brush having tipped ends. Moreparticularly, it relates to a twisted wire bottling brush havingbristles between twisted wires in which the end of the brush hasbristles which are tipped outwardly in all directions. Brushes of thistype are formed by twisting wires onto which have been applied bristles,the twisting of the wires locking the bristles in place.

These brushes consist of bristles which are oriented perpendicular tothe wires and that is, they are directed radially outwardly. One way ofmaking such brushes of this general type has been disclosed in my priorpatent entitled, Fully Automatic Machine for Making Brushes," No.2,742,327.

However, at the very end of the brush, there is a problem in orientingthe bristles in such a way that the tip of the brush provides a cleaningsurface.

As an example, for a baby bottle brush, it is desirable for the bristlesat the very tip to project in a plurality of directions andparticularly, longitudinally in a direction parallel to the path of thewires. This allows the brush to be used in connection with the cleaningof nipples and other parts of the bottle.

The problem of orienting the bristles in such a way has led to a numberof attempts all of which utilized an additional bristle grouping orcomponents and which are fixed or placed onto the wires.

One such solution is shown in the Glas Patent No. 3,165,362 which isassigned to the American Technical Machinery Corporation. In this brush,a ferrule is fixed onto the twisted wires and bristles are stapled ontothe ferrule. It is also possible with this type of ferrule to positionthe bristles in any direction so that they will radiate as a fan or aspointed outwardly or in any other direction.

It will be understood that when using a ferrule or any other type ofdevice, that production problems exist because the brush must be removedfrom the assembly line and additional steps will be required not only toform the ferrule but to position it. Additional operators as well asadditional production costs for materials are incurred.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive wayof making a baby bottle brush.

A second object of this invention is to provide a twisted wire brush inwhich the ends of the brush have bristles which project longitudinallyalong the length of the wires.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a baby bottle brushwhich is cheaper to make and which does not use any additional elementsother than the twisted wire and the bristles for forming the brush head.

Other objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them willbecome more apparent and the invention itself will best be understood byreference to the following description of embodiment of the inventiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal cross section of one embodiment of my novelbrush;

FIGURE 2 is an alternate embodiment illustrating a brush or knot ofbristles at the tip.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there :is shown a length of twisted wire 10having a handle section 11 as well as a working section 12. The workingsection comprises bristles which have been intertwisted within thelength of wire. It will be noted that at the section indicated by theletter A that the bristles extend substantially radially outwardly andare perpendicular to the length of the wire.

At the end B, however, the bristles are formed at an angle to the wirelength and at the very tip parallel to the direction of the Wires. Thepitch of the bristles therefor varies along the length of the brush,variation beginning at the tip region B.

It will be noted that at the point 1, the angle of the bristles areapproximately to the angle of the wires.

At point 2, the angle is 30. At point 3, the angle is 60 and at point 4,the angles are very small and for the purposes herein may be considered0 degrees. Each line indicated in the drawings as comprising a bristlemay include a tuft, a group of bristles or a group of tufts.

One technique for forming the tip is that shown in Ser. No. 463,995filed June 15, 1965 entitled Branch Pointing Method and Apparatus. In myinvention, the brush end may be applied between rollers as disclosed inthe patent application under increasing pressure to per manently deformthe bristles. Heat may also be applied to provide a permanent set, andin this case, varying amounts of pressure may be used.

In addition, the density of bristles, the number per inch, may be causedto increase in the tip section to provide better cleansing action.

The handle 11, of the brush may be formed from many conventional means,however, it is an important part of this invention that the handle beseparate from the bristle surface A, and preferably formed onto thewires. As illustrated, the handle may consist of a section, perhaps twoto six inches or greater, of preferably bare twisted wire on which asuitable gripping block 14 is fastened.

One way of making this brush is to form the twisted section of bristlesas disclosed for example in the afore mentioned Marks patent or inPatent No. 3,160,440 for Continuous Brush Twister and Feeder. When thebristle section which is to be formed as the tip reaches the very end,pressure may be applied directly onto the bristles to push them in thedirection indicated. The bristles thus formed extend at angles, both tothe wire and to the main bristle section.

the brush could be formed as a brush or a knot of elements extending atsubstantially low angles with respect to horizontal, 030, for example.Such bristle orientations could be obtained by pressure and/or heatapplied at the tip of the brush. Further, if desired, the tip of thebrush, illustrated in FIGURE 2, having the bristles 20 at a low anglewith respect to horizontal, could be spaced by a gap, devoid ofbristles, from the main body of bristles. In this case, the flow ofbristles from the hopper is cut off for a brief period of timecorresponding to the desired gap.

What is claimed is:

1. A method for making a brush of the baby bottle type having a tippedend followed by a gap of exposed wires devoid of bristles, followed by amain body of bristles, followed by an exposed handle, comprising thesteps of:

feeding means applying bristles between a pair of separate wires,

twisting the wires to form the bristles in place,

forming a hand-gripping section along said wire lengths,

forming the tipped end of the brush by applying pressure along saidbristles at the tipped end to orient the bristles at the tip at aplurality of angular directions, the bristles at the very tip beinggenerally parallel to the wire length,

" and cutting off the flow of bristles from said feeding means for briefperiods to form the said gap of exposed wires and said exposed handle.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of:

. heating the tipped end to set the said bristles.

3. A method for making a brush of the baby bottle type having a tippedend followed by a gap of exposed wires devoid of bristles, followed by amain body of bristles, followed by said exposed handle, comprising thesteps of:

feeding means applying bristles between a pair of separate wires,

twisting the wires to form the bristles in place,

forming a hand-gripping section along said wire lengths,

forming the tipped end to orient the bristles at the tip in directionsextending at a plurality of angular orientations to the wire length, thebristles at the very tip being generally parallel to the wire length,

cutting off the flow of bristles from said feeding means for a briefperiod to leave a section of wires exposed, said hand-gripping sectionbeing formed along said exposed section, and cutting off the flow ofbristles from said feeding means for a brief period to form the said gapof exposed wires and said exposed handle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,160,440 12/ 1964 Gelardi 30023,231,311 1/1966 Marks et a1. 300-2 3,365,529 1/ 1968 Dieffenbach 300-213,370,345 2/1968 Mattie 300-21 853,582 5/1907 Gohrband 15206 XR1,806,520 5/1931 Cave 15--206 FOREIGN PATENTS 662 1/ 1889 Great Britain.184,735 8/ 1922 Great Britain.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

